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Fiddler’s Green Partners, LLC made an offer to buy 11.6 acres of the old Blacksburg Middle School property for $3.1 million last week.
The development company plans to turn the property into an upscale, professional housing area, said Jim Cowan, a principal with Fiddler’s Green and the project’s spokesperson. He also said there is potential for commercial space on the parcels closest to Main Street. But as negotiations for the sale of the property move forward, members of the Blacksburg Town Council have a few considerations to make before redevelopment can begin.
Jeanne Stosser, a managing member of Fiddler’s Green and president of SAS Builders, has had two past conflicts with the town of Blacksburg that resulted in Supreme Court cases. One case dealt with development at First and Main streets, and another involved the Tom’s Creek Basin sewer construction. In both cases, the court sided with the town.
“There’s a trust issue there, and that has to be prepared,” said John Bush, a member of the Council. “I am going to remain very positive and optimistic about all applications that come before the town, and will review them on their merit, just as I would for any developer.
“But, I think people would be remiss to not know the history of what has happened in the past 10 years, and I think because of that, we will be very careful and vigilant about that process.” Now that an agreement is underway between Montgomery County and Fiddler’s Green, the Council has shown concern about some required actions the contract asks of the town.
Marc Verniel, the Blacksburg town manager, said the contract includes contingencies that ask the town to contribute to the costs of certain parts of the redevelopment, such as building roads and transferring density from different pieces of property.
Leslie Hager-Smith, a councilwoman, believes the contingencies are unfair because the town does not own the property.
“It’s like if your neighbor next door in your apartment building decided with her roommate that they were going to have a party,” Hager-Smith said. “And then it’s almost show time, it’s 9:00 on a Friday, and they come to you and say, ‘Oh, did we tell you that you’re going to pay for all the beer?’”
Although there are a few situations hindering the contract’s progression, members of Fiddler’s Green and the town of Blacksburg are willing to put their differences aside to bring the best enhancements to the redevelopment.
The Council will discuss the contract at its next work session in November, and Fiddler’s Green will present its ideas.
“The Council doesn’t really need to be concerned about the contingencies that are in that contract,” Verniel said. “What they need to be concerned about is what is in the town’s comprehensive plan and also what is in the master plan that we did back in the spring.”
Verniel said at the next work session, the Council and Fiddler’s Green will talk through some of the issues that have recently come to light.
“Certainly there are many challenges in the redevelopment of this unique site, and as we begin to work through the ultimate design and mix of uses, we are eager to begin the hard work of bringing to life the vision for the property that is embraced in the recently adopted master plan,” Cowan said in a press release.
Bush emphasized the importance of looking further into the issue.
“Because it is located in our town and adjacent to existing neighborhoods, all of those folks will care very deeply about what happens here,” he said.
Currently, plans and layouts are in the early design stage.
Fiddler’s Green’s purchase would include parcels C, D, E and part of F, at the back end of the property. The parcels bordering Main Street are still currently under negotiation between Montgomery County and Modea, who agreed to buy six acres for $2.45 million.
A version of this article appeared in the Nov 4 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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Awesome!
I hope all of the radical fanatical ‘BURG’ supporters are just rolling in their glory
that they created a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure by protesting the development, by forcing
out retailers, by blocking the opening of businesses in the out parcels facing Main Street.
This situation sits squarely in their hands for being such bully protestors and if you are one of
the local people who’ve recently lost your job because of a store closing or are about to lose your job be sure to call, write, visit their website and even confront them in person. BURG destroyed this development. Shame on them.
(And they’d better keep their mouths sewn tight with regard to the OBMS Development. None of
us can afford their radical hatred to ruin another bright spot on our local economic landscape).
Its just disgusting.
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This is already shaping up to be a disaster on the scale of First & Main proportions. With what I've seen over the past 5-10 years in Blacksburg, I would be extremely hesitant to bring a business of my own within Town limits or attempt to develop a piece of property here. Sadly, I know I'm not the only one who feels that way.
I'd ask that Town Council doesn't shoot Town residents in the foot on this one, but I have little faith that they won't.
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Don't want people protesting your development? Then don't lie about what you are planning when asking for rezoning. It's that easy!
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Stosser and Fairmont also lied to their customers. Ask Blue Ridge Outdoors why they had to sue them. Ask Steger Creek why they have to leave town.
Stosser and Fairmont never built the theater that was promised. Rather, they put all of their resources defending blight, rather than developing something the community wanted. That's why Fairmont is bankrupt, and the ToB continues to be an enjoyable place to live.
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Deceitful Business Practices speaks like a hard-core member of the taliBURG -- repeat lies often enough and they start to sound like the truth. Yes, there were promises made to tenants that the developers at First and Main didn't follow through with and lawsuits were necessary actions. But as to the promised movie theater, I defy anyone to build something out of thin air in the past recession when businesses were folding left and right. It's hard to pin the lack of a theater solely on Fairmont -- the company that was going to build and operate the theaters decided that the time and market was not right and backed out and no one else was willing to take the same chance. We almost had a Sonic drive-in thanks to the efforts of Fairmont, but over-regulation by the town drove that business away, so it is a two-way street when pointing fingers. The town can be quite demanding when it comes to development and regulations, which is why many developers shy away from inside the town limits -- its a credit to Stosser that her firm has stuck with it and built a number of projects (of course, one did wipe out a trailer park, which is a secret goal of some in town government).
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Regardless of there being a recession or not. When the development plans were approved for First and Main there was no mention of a walmart or any big box store for that matter. On the North side of the complex they got a mixed use development approved with retail on the lower level and housing on upper levels... then, after getting it approved tried to sneakily change their plans.. and they got caught. Out of spite, they refused to further develop the site and have since gone bankrupt. These businesses were promised things that have never come to fruition because of a sneaky and deceitful developer, I can't blame the town for denying a walmart.. it saves us from the surrounding blight that would occur when walmart drove everything else out of business (Gables shopping center).
If you really feel so strongly about the way the town is going you could move out.. i'm sure there is much cheaper real estate in Christiansburg.
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Joe Hokie, weren't you aware that Sonics are just plain awful??? Imagine the noise pollution caused by such a travesty!
Having worked with the town on development projects as well with larger towns and cities on similar endeavours, I can say that what TOB asks of its developers is ludicrous. Rules and regulations are in place for a reason, obviously - and for good reason. However, TOB often asks for things which aren't even required in their own regs, which is flat out wrong. Developers go to work every day to make a profit, just like everyone else. TOB makes that impossible, which only hurts its residents. It's also why I will never do business there.
Unfortunately, for the moment the Leave-My-Town-Alone-Because-I-Hate-Change-and-Want-My-Town-To-Look-Like-It-Did-In-1960 folks are doing their best to kill business. Fortunately, these people will be long gone in 15 years or so.
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Zachary,
First, I would like to clarify something. I am NOT a proponent of Wal Mart. I am, however, a proponent of responsible development.
You should probably check your facts - a 186K SF big box store WAS shown on plans submitted to the Town (and subsequently approved) in March of 2007. Sometimes the tenant is shown, and sometimes it's not. What the store was is irrelevant. It doesn't matter when you go to apply for a land development permit.
Big box stores were allowed in the zoning that the property was rezoned to and plans were APPROVED. The Town then proceeded to pass Ordinance 1450, requiring any big box store >80K SF to obtain a special use permit. The developer did go about things the correct way, and plans were approved. But the Town went on to say "oh, by the way, even though we passed this ordinance AFTER your plans were approved, your development is going to be subject to it."
Again, I am not a proponent of Walmart, but that's not just wrong, it's arguably illegal.
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Yeah, Mark, that Sonic Radio noise playing over the sound of traffic on S. Main Street would have been horrible -- all the idling traffic spewing pollution into the air because the town hasn't yet figured out how to set up the expensive traffic signals it required Fairmont to install as part of First and Main. Said signals that are supposed to be coordinated so that if you get a green at Ellett or Country Club and maintain speed you should get a green all the way through.
And Zachary, I see you quaffed the taliBURG kool-aid and have fallen for the "the plans you originally presented aren't anything like the project you build, so therefore you lied to everyone" lie that has been perpetrated for too long. Yes, the CONCEPT plans that were shown around in the early days of the project showed a mixed-use project as you describe, with commercial and residential development on the site. But when the actual plans were submitted to the town and ultimately APPROVED by the town, what is there now is what the town officials saw and signed off on. There was no "bait and switch" as the tailBURG folks bandy about, no lies, no trying "to sneakily change their plans." Like Mark, I'm not necessarily a hard-core fan of Wal-Mart or certain developers, but I am a fan of the truth and I don't like loud minority special-interest groups running roughshod over the political process.
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Referring to people that disagree with you as "taliBURG" shows everyone that you are offensive and ignorant. That might play elsewhere, but it doesn't work in an educated community. Apparently college didn't help. Join the US Army and learn something more about the Taliban.
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Sorry, Join the Army, I claim no credit for coining the "taliBURG" term for adherents and and followers of that group. That honor falls to Michael Miller, who wrote a great satirical blog, "New River Journal Blog" (http://newriverjournal.blogspot.com/) that sadly he stopped producing back in February. In that, he used the term to describe the small and vocal group and its tactics to enforce its views and "our way is the only way" on the majority, using all the best methods of propaganda (half-truths, repeating lies until accepted as truth, trotting out children for the media, etc.).
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So repeating poor or offensive comments is OK if you didn't coin them? Yeah.
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Actually responding to one of your responses.
To Jo Hokie, re "Said signals that are supposed to be coordinated so that if you get a green at Ellett or Country Club and maintain speed you should get a green all the way through."
...do you mean if you're going straight on Main St. at Ellett or Country Club?
The stoplight at Country Club is very frustrating because northbound traffic on Main seems to have a dedicated green left-turn light as part of the rotation, which is automatic. This is particularly frustrating when one is stopped at that light in the middle of the night for no reason other than you caught the cycle wrong.
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The signal coordination hasn't been completed yet, it is still in progress by the Town of Blacksburg. All of the old stoplights (Country Club @ Main, Progress @ Main, Clay @ Main, Etc) have to be upgraded to have the synchronization capability. This is why all of the lights are being replaced with the decorative black poles with pedestrian signals. More info can be found here:
http://blacksburg.gov/index.aspx?page=944
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Another example of the town overplanning. If it's nto your land, why would you pay for a master plan ? They should have saved the money, let a developer(s) submit plans . Let the downtown area thrive by stopping all this overplanning. Not every old building is historic and needs to be saved, not every new bulding needs to be made of brick and structural foamy stuff. Look at the taylor house, black house, two of the biggest eyesores in Blacksburg . Great job John Bush .
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"The current master plan for the old BMS includes a pedestrian promenade, . . . the possibility of a parking garage and two public park areas."
The town already sunk taxpayer money into the Kent Square garage but hasn't gotten the promised return and parking downtown still sucks. The town also has several useless parks (Wong Park and Brown Farm Park) keeping property off the tax rolls, it doesn't need more land taking up unproductive space and producing no tax revenue. If there is going to be green space, these "park areas" need to be owned by the developer or a homeowners' association and taxed at some level. Everyone in Hethwood (even the Foxridge tenants) pays dues to cover the taxes on the bike paths, playgrounds, tennis courts, and pools; the same should hold true for this Fiddler's Green project.
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I noticed that quote as well. Why on earth would a new parking garage be considered when the Kent Square isn't contributing its projected return? People refuse to park there because there is free parking along the streets and most would rather search for a spot elsewhere.
When Modea moves in, I suppose they would be using the new garage (as they and Rackspace are the ONLY people who use the garage by the Math Empo). But why build a new garage when the Kent Square garage is a block and a half away and there will no doubt be additional surface parking in the new development? FORCE people to use the Kent Square garage, and you'll get your return.
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the town needs to let business crop and succeed or fail as the market allows. the town should really only be concerned with the aesthetic aspects of the businesses. let people do what they want on their own property so long as it doesn't interfere with the rights of others!
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JOe, Mark, and anon
All correct. Let us try a little more free market and a little less town influence.
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